Meet UAE’s first 10-year visa holders

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Meet UAE’s first 10-year visa holders

All of them are winners or finalists of the Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction.

By Staff Reporter

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Published: Thu 17 Jan 2019, 5:55 AM

Last updated: Thu 17 Jan 2019, 2:19 PM

These 20 brilliant professors and researchers have become the first batch of expatriates to be granted 10-year visas in the UAE. All of them are winners or finalists of the Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction.

Lahaz Al Ghazali
She is a professor of clinical genetics and paediatrics at the UAE University. She was one of the first scientists in the world to identify recessive genes that cause more than 40 genetic disorders among Arabs and the first doctor to describe the phenotypes/pathological traits of genetic disorders in the UAE.
Linda Zou
She is a professor at the Khalifa University. Her research interests include the use of nanotechnology and membrane science to develop low-energy and high-efficiency water filtration solutions. Dr Linda has six patents and has published more than 150 newspaper articles.
Lakmal Seneviratne
He is a professor of mechanical engineering and the founding director of the centre of robotics at the Khalifa University. He is also the assistant vice-president of research at the university. His main research interests are robotics and automation.
Abdul Rahim Neymar
He is a professor of physiology at the faculty of medicine and health sciences at the UAE University. His main area of expertise is physiological and pathological mechanisms underlying the respiratory and cardiovascular effects of air pollution.

Hassan Arafat
He works at the Khalifa University. He made valuable contributions in developing renewable energy technology for seawater ?treatment in cooperation with researchers from the Masdar Institute of Science and ?Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US.
Afaf Kamal El Din
She is a professor of food science at the UAE University. Her research interests are in the fields of food chemistry, food analysis and healthy food. She has published more than 150 papers in ?international journals on issues related to food and health.
Wesley Cantwell
He is a director at the aerospace research and innovation centre and a professor at the department of aerospace ?engineering at the Khalifa University. His research focuses on aircraft structures, composites, light aircraft structures and eco-friendly vehicles.
Omar Amin
He is a professor of biology at the UAE University and has many research interests including the biological ?application of nanotechnology, cancer biology, cell biology, and biological implementation of MRI.
Omar Yaghi
He is the founding director of Berkeley Global Science Institute, co-director of the Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute and California Research Alliance. Over the last two decades, Dr Yaghi has developed innovative ways to manufacture new ?compounds and use them in ?several fields.
Ehab Al Saadani
He is a professor at the department of electrical engineering and computer ?engineering at the Khalifa University. He has received many national and international awards for his contributions to energy systems.
Andrea Machio
He is an associate professor of physics and head of physics at the New York University Abu Dhabi. He explores the origins of 'mysterious dark elements' of the universe, especially dark energy and dark matter. His research focusses on astrophysics and he has special interest in numerical simulation.
Abdo Adam
He is a professor at the faculty of medicine and health sciences at the UAE University. His research interests include the study of Alzheimer's disease, cancer, clinical pharmacy and diabetes.
Fikri Abu Zeidan
He is the head of accidents research group at the department of surgery, faculty of medicine and health sciences, UAE University. He has contributed to more than 330 international periodicals, journals and books; and has been doing scientific research for 33 years.
Alaa Aldhan
He is a professor of geology at the faculty of science, UAE University. He has many scientific contributions in geochemistry, environmental, oil sciences and radioisotopes. He has more than 400 scientific studies to his credit.
Ernesto Damiani
He is the founding director of the cyber physics centre at the Khalifa University. His research focusses on artificial intelligence, big data, electronic security and cloud processing. He has published more than 600 articles.
Ernst Adgati
He is a professor at the department of anatomy at the UAE University. He is the former head of the priority research group for diabetes, heart and blood vessels. He focused his research in the field of diabetes and has published more than ?150 articles.
Anas Al Nashif
He is a professor at the department of chemical engineering, Khalifa University. His main research focusses on chemical engineering and chemical analysis. He has received eight patents from the US and Europe patent offices and has received several awards.
Lourdes F. Vega
She is an honorary professor at the gas research centre, Khalifa University. She has authored a book on carbon dioxide and its uses. She has published more than 200 scientific papers and has five patents to her name.
Ghaleb Al Husseini
He is a professor of chemical engineering and the head of chemical ?engineering at Dana Gas. His specialities include the delivery of non-viral genes and surface modification. He ?won the TIP Innovation Award in ?Abu Dhabi in 2018.
Hatem Zain El Din
He is a professor at the department of electrical engineering and computer engineering at the Khalifa University. His research focusses on renewable energy, intelligent networks, energy systems, ?integration of renewable energy and its effects on the operation of the energy system.


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